It was a decent idea in theory. To honour the 10 members of Toronto’s 1963 Stanley Cup champions attending Saturday’s 50th reunion, they’d put the old-timers in shiny convertibles, two to a car.

They’d drive the ragtops onto the Air Canada Centre ice surface to a rousing pre-game ovation. It’d be just like those ticker-tape parades all those decades ago. It’d be nostalgic gold to befit a golden anniversary.

Maybe, for some, it was. Maybe the rare sight of reclusive Dave Keon, the transcendant hero of Leaf-ian generations gone by, was enough to ensure lumps in throats and chills down spines.

Still, it would have been far better if the gaping empty rows of platinum and gold seats that greeted the greats were actually filled with respectful throngs. It would have been nice if those throngs offered a rousing and lasting ovation. No less an authority than Keon, only the greatest Leaf, has called the 1963 champs the best Leafs team that ever was.

Sadly, the significance of Saturday’s ceremony, whether because of bad messaging or short notice, seemed mostly lost on those who made the snowy trip to the Leafs-Senators match. The pre-game crowd was sparse; the current Maple Leafs players, who’d stayed in their dressing room for much of the pomp, only emerged to see the tail end of the motorcade — this after even the visiting Senators had taken to their bench to pay their respects.

And as for the ovation — it was friendly, but it was far from frenetic. On any given night the Kiss Cam gets a far more visceral reaction. The empty-net goal that capped Toronto’s eventual 3-0 win over Ottawa stirred plenty more fervour than the presence of those six Hall of Famers from another eon.

As Sports Illustrated writer Michael Farber tweeted from the press box as Keon and his teammates took the ice: “ACC is library quiet. 63 Leafs deserve better.”

Farber, of course, is based in Montreal, where the Canadiens unfailingly treat matters of tradition with religious zeal and utmost skill. Already this year Les Habitants have wowed the national TV audience with a riveting torch-passing rite that amounted to a memorable opening night, no matter the quality of the post-lockout product.

The same could not be said of the goings-on at the Air Canada Centre. And the game wasn’t exactly a classic, either. Those who’ve recently watched the AHL’s Toronto Marlies face off against the Binghamton Senators might have wondered about the justification for the exponential increase in the ticket price. With both NHL clubs afflicted with the short-season injury plague that’s ravaging the league, there were something like 17 recent minor leaguers suited up. Toronto’s minor leaguers played better than Ottawa’s, so all hail organizational depth. Still, perhaps the lack of star power explains in part why going out to see a hockey game in Canada’s capital of the corporate schmoozefest means hockey-watching is optional and occasional.

Carlyle made no apologies for his team’s late arrival to honour their forebears. And perhaps you could see his point.

“We’re in a market that explores these types of promotions to a different level because of the history that’s been here,” Carlyle said. “We’re never going to cast a negative upon the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs. But right now we’re about us. We want to try and create some of our own. . . . It’s not any disrespect to anyone else, but we’d like to make our own mark.”

That kind of reasoning would never fly in Montreal, of course. But disregarding tradition has been a Leaf specialty since the days Keon led the Leafs to four Stanley Cups in a six-season run capped by the 1967 title, which still looms as Toronto’s most recent claim to hockey glory. Recent attempts at repairing past mistakes, as good intentioned as they’ve been, haven’t done the trick.

Keon, who was famously estranged from the Leafs after an acrimonious parting under the reign of owner Harold Ballard, granted interviews to Leafs TV and CBC on his rare visit back to Leafland, but he declined other requests. His son, Dave Keon Jr., pointed out that Toronto’s former No. 14 has been to the Air Canada Centre before; that he’d attended many Leaf-themed events in Toronto in recent years. He’s retired and living in Florida. He plays golf a couple of times a week.

“He doesn’t come up in the winter (often),” said Keon Jr. “He came because he thinks this is the best Leaf team ever.”

It’s one of the liveliest Leafs teams ever, at least by Saturday’s evidence. Never mind that Keon, at age 72, is the youngest among them. Waiting in the arena’s bowels before their pre-game cameo, as the legends of ’63 piled into their ragtops, one of the motorcade’s drivers revved an engine loudly. Eddie Shack, age 76, was inspired to speak.

Larry Hillman, who’s been aware of Shack’s schtick for more than half a century, rolled his eyes a little: “He never lets up, does he?”

There were laughs all around, and satisfied smiles at the appearance of Keon.

“That was a silly thing (Keon) was doing,” said Bob Nevin, speaking of his former teammate’s long absence from Toronto games. “Who cares about Harold Ballard anymore? It’s the guys you went to war with you want to come back and see. We appreciate him coming and we hope he keeps it up.”

How many Leaf fans share that hope? At least one Hall of Famer asked a similar question.

“I wonder if many people remember us,” Bob Pulford said.

Somebody assured him: Of course Toronto does. But remembering isn’t the same as respecting and honouring and cherishing.

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